They were cresting the spine above Pierce Point Ranch when driver Mike Anderson and his second-in-command, Luke Ferrigno, spotted the herd and slowed their compactor truck to a halt. With phones in hand, the two snapped shots of the tule elk and marveled at their silvery coats and stature. They were on their way to the McClure Ranch as part of the Conservation Corps North Bay, a program that manages recycling programs in Marin and Sonoma Counties while providing career development to at-risk young adults. Around a dozen corps members, ages 18 to 25, come out to West Marin ranches, beaches and townships twice a week to haul away recycling to a processing center in Santa Rosa. The rest of the week, they take classes at College of Marin or Santa Rosa Junior College and receive help arranging apprenticeships and internships. “Before this job, I was struggling with narcotics and was in and out of jobs. I didn’t feel like I was supported,” Mr. Ferrigno, a 24-year-old from Santa Rosa, said. “The corps provided me with an environment where I got a chance to excel.” The program is constantly hiring young adults, sometimes for long-term employment and other times for specific projects, such as the removal of a decrepit barn at the McClure Ranch last month (they brought the wood to a Petaluma business for repurposing). Although it’s stable now, the program underwent major financial restructuring three years ago after the state agency CalRecycle rolled back funding due to an increase in statewide recycling, slashing 70 percent of the corps’ budget. Previously, they picked up recycling for free and used the deposits to subsidize their services. “Now we’re working with all our localities where we were picking up for free and asking if they’d share the cost to allow us to break even,” Laura Vernon, the corps’ recycling program manager, said. They hold contracts with such agencies as the County of Marin, California State Parks and the National Park Service. They also collaborate with Madeline Hope, an Inverness resident and the county’s zero-waste educator, every spring for the Recycle Circus in Point Reyes Station, and have folded electronic waste and tires into their pickup routines. Sometimes they travel as far north as Oregon to pick up recyclable oils from auto shops. Recently, Mr. Anderson, a former supervisor at a Los Angeles orphanage who now works as a full-time supervisor for the corps, said he was outside Grants Pass, Ore. with a group of young adults who had never traveled outside the Bay Area. “I had to pull over and let them play in the snow,” he said. “And I got excited through them! That’s what I like about this job: these guys get to see things they’ve never seen before.” To learn more about the corps, visit their website, ccnorthbay.org.
Program brings young adults on recycling missions in West Marin
